Brad Seagrott, the HR Manager for JBS in South Australia says the Tatiara district meatworks will expand to a second shift with an extra 180 permanent jobs.

The company's growth plans for the lamb processing operation were outlined at public meetings at Keith and Bordertown last night.

"The plan is to start our second shift on 7 October and we'll increase our kill slowly over the six weeks following that," says Mr Seagrott.

Mr Seagrott says the new jobs are being filled by local people already in the area, but the majority of people applying for the jobs are from elsewhere in Australia.

This is leading to a bit of a problem, as the new employees will need to find housing in Bordertown and nearby.

Mr Seagrott says the reputation of the Bordertown meatworks as having a good workforce, a good plant and a supportive community is why the company decided to expand its operation here rather than elsewhere in the country.